Increase Mental Fitness

Worrying does not just automatically stop when someone suggests that you stop.

Something else needs to happen.

You need to be able to tell yourself not to worry and this requires you to have a certain amount of control over how your mind is working.

We can’t necessarily avoid the trauma that happens on the journey our kids will make through life but there are things we can do to better prepare the next generation to meet trauma with resilience.

Tuning in to how much worrying children do is the first good step in helping them take control of minding their mental health.

This is a key part of mental fitness training but it is only a first step.

If the child has a natural propensity towards worrying, you can guide them to an alternative way of thinking, not by saying not to worry but by increasing their own awareness about what thinking is behind the worried feeling.

Explore with them what the thoughts are that are causing the worry and then look at the evidence to suggest that that particular thought is not essential.

For example, a child who is worried about what may happen in the schoolyard may be feeling worried because something difficult happened in the yard the week before.

By exploring the child’s thoughts around this, they may be able to come up with a strategy to deal with the particular situation and then will begin to develop a belief that is along the lines of ‘I am able to problem solve.’